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Important Reasons Why You Should Bet in Poker

It is important to know why you should bet in poker as betting the correct amount. Some people would say it is more important. Knowing the reason means you can and will make the correct adjustments as the hand progresses in the game. In this blog, we will discuss two reasons why you should bet while you play poker online.

Two Ways to Win in Poker

There are only two ways to play poker online in India and win a hand. The first one is to turn over the best hand at the showdown on the river. While the second is to have everyone else fold by you betting, leaving you as the last player to play. These are the two ways to win a hand lead us to the conclusion that there are two primary reasons we should bet in poker.

Value

A player bet because he thinks that their
opponents will call with worse hands than yours. Therefore, you put your money
into the pot with losing hands.

Bluff

You bet to cause your opponents to fold
better hands than yours. It allows you to win the money currently in the pot
without having to show your cards.

If these reasons are not valid, you should
not bet. If you can’t justify either a
bluff or a value bet with your hand, then you should not bet.

Other Reasons to Bet

Semi-bluffing

Sometimes the hand lies between a pure value ad a bluff hand. For example, you are holding a hand like 77 or KJs on the button and decide to raise when the action folds. Your hand may or may not be the best so you are betting essentially as a combination of bluff and value. The players say that their hand in this situation has moderate pot equity only. But it also gives the reasonable fold equity, so you should bet. The hand may be the best or improve and become best by showdown but also don’t mind if the opponents fold. When you are betting as a combination of moderate value and bluffing, it is known as a semi-bluff.

Isolation bet

If a bad player to the right enters the pot
preflop, sometimes you can raise to discourage the other players from joining
the hand. It is called isolation raise and allows to play heads up in position
against the weaker opponent.

Protection bet

You can also bet if your hand is the best but also vulnerable to getting outdrawn i.e. you suspect your opponent has a drawing hand that ca beat yours if he makes his hand on a later street. In this situation, you want to make your opponent pay the price to see if any further cards. Another way is you want to offer your opponent the wrong odds to call with his draw. It is called a protection bet but in and it is nothing more than a specialized value bet.

Before you bet ask yourself- first, does your opponent have a worse hand than yours and will be able to get them to call if you bet. Second does your opponent hold a better hand than yours and will be able to get them to fold. If your answer is yes to at least one question, then you should bet. If you can’t answer yes, then probably you should not bet.